History and Origins

Krav
Maga is a free battle, all kinds of punching, kicking, strangling and various
abortion possible and aim is neutralizing the opponent in the shortest time, in
order to simulate as much as possible situation that could happen on the Street
". Unlike martial arts competition (or as another in their fighting of an
arena in which there is usually a limit on damage to the opponent in the groin,
face, neck and knees combat, due to its purpose, is not subject to these
restrictions and therefore not characterized by competition or representation
Olympic (making competition Krav Maga without these restrictions could cause
serious injuries and even death among the opponents).
The
method was developed for military purposes and is used for self-defense. Is the
first adopted by the Israel Defense Forces, is now famous all over the world
and has been adopted by other countries combat forces.
Source
method lies a man named Emmerich "Imi" Lichtenfeld R.I.P.
"Imi" Lichtenfeld, was born in 1910 in Hungary and grew up in
Bratislava, the Slovak capital. The father of my mother, Samuel Lichtenfeld was
a circus performer in his past and senior detective. He was also the owner of
the gym modern first in Bratislava where he practiced wrestling, boxing and
weightlifting. When he was young Samuel boxer excellent and so encouraged my
mother to participate in a variety of athletic activities including gymnastics,
wrestling and boxing. As a young man, won the horrors of the number of
championships sporting events and has gained outstanding achievements in boxing
and wrestling. Between 1929 1939 My mother was one of Europe's most successful
wrestlers.
At
times violent attacks against Jews were a regular occurrence in their streets
of many Eastern European cities. Imi and other young Jews participated in many
fights with anti-Semitic population of Bratislava in order to protect the
Jewish community from attacks by the individual and to prevent pogroms in the
Jewish Quarter. These experiences led eventually help to formulate a Krav Maga.
After
immigrating to Israel head of the Haganah ", Yitzhak Sadeh, my mother
immediately recruited as an instructor of hand to hand combat because of his
famous fighting skills. In 1944, Imi began training military units, special
physical training, which included swimming, wrestling practice, and use a knife
and self-defense techniques against attack with a knife. Between 1942-1948, Imi
supervised training, special units of the "protection" of the
Palmach, Palyam and police forces. This practice is called Kapap - hand to hand
combat.
In
1948 when the State of Israel was established. First prime minister, David
Ben-Gurion, tore the unofficial units and established the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) Imi began his military service in 1948 and served there for 15 years. He
began to build a combat system based on the principles learned professions rich
past boxing, wrestling, gymnastics and military exercises. He called this new
method: "Krav Maga". Chief coach military Krav Maga, my mother was
given the opportunity to test their own knowledge and experience with the
knowledge and experience of its students, and my mother was able to expand the
Krav Maga by using the principles of attack and defense the most effective.
From
1948 until 1963, Imi developed and refined his own methods of self-defense and
hand to hand combat while training Israeli soldiers in these techniques. During
this period he personally trained the best fighters of the IDF's elite units.
In 1963, when my mother left the army, he was in the process of changing the
system to it could be used by citizens.
When he died on 8 January 1998, many mourned the
Grandmaster Imi light as a hero of Israel, and praise him as one of the most
important figures in the modern world of martial arts.